Board 8 > Finally beat GAA and GAA2 (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Everyone said GAA2 was better than the first, and while I agree, I still didn't find it to be as good. You wait two entire games for Stronghart to turn out to be evil, and then when it finally happens, he's barely a force in the trial at all, he gets completely trounced by Ryunosuke and is a threat exclusively because he's the judge. Same with Jigoku, who was obviously going to be evil as soon as he showed up outside of the courtroom. Didn't like Sholmes randomly inventing a hologram machine in the 1890s, either, that kind of took the wacky technology element too far, and him saving the day at the end sort of robs Ryunosuke of his victory. I also couldn't believe they did the "prosecutor is accused of murder" thing again. And for all the game talks about how Kazuma and van Zieks are genius prosecutors, they never have any big moments where they show off their genius. They just do normal prosecutor stuff and get the runaround by Ryunosuke. van Zieks is at least more fun than Kazuma, though. Also, the final two cases not having juries was a mistake. The juries were a lot of fun, and they should have shown up again, as a bunch of stuffy legal people who assume Stronghart is always telling the truth. They should have been the people cheering him on and insisting the trial move forward after he tries to stop it.

But it's still an okay game. I didn't hate it or anything, and Susato and Iris grew on me. If anything, I'd say that setting the game in a different time period was a great decision, because it finally let you escape the bloated number of characters in the main timeline.

Still haven't played PWxL, but I already know the final twist in the game, so I probably will never bother.

Main Characters: Phoenix > Edgeworth > Apollo > Ryunosuke > Gregory Edgeworth > Athena
Prosecutors: Godot > Edgeworth > Blackquill > von Karma > van Zieks > Franziska > Ga'ran > Payne/Auchi > Kazuma > Nahyuta > Klavier
Assistants: Maya > Susato > Iris > Athena > Ema > Rayfa > Kay > Trucy > Pearl
Cops: Sholmes > Gumshoe > Gregson > Ema > Gina > Fulbright > Satoru > Shi-Long Lang
Judges: Judge > Seishiro > Canadian Judge > British Judge > Ku'rain Judge
Final Bosses: Dahlia > Matt Engarde > von Karma > Gant > Fulbright > Ga'ran > Kristoph > Simon Keyes > Stronghart > Ashley Graydon > Quercus Alba

I'm aware that Sholmes doesn't technically count as a cop, and that I cut Susato's father from the playable character list even though you play as him for five seconds, and that I cut Blackquill, Grossberg, Mia, Franziska, and probably some others from the assistants list.

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Getting rid of the jury was a good idea. The bad idea was splitting it into two episodes.

G2-3 best case

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I dunno if I could possibly disagree with your first paragraph any more than I do. But I'm tired and don't have the energy to explain my opinion. I fucking love GAA2 and it's become my new favorite AA game.

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I have a lot more respect for Stronghart than you do, but it is a little weird that he helps out Ryunosuke a lot leading up to the final cases.

I like the jury more than most, but I think it would have made Case 4 and 5 even more extended. I'm fine with having them be removed.

The final case and the final twist is one of the last reasons to play PW vs PL!

also wow, your final boss list is all sorts of strange for me. Fulbright that high? Really?

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I just realized I should have made Prosecutor into Rival and included Lang, but hed just be at the bottom of the list anyway.

I mightve overranked Fulbright, but its okay.

And its fine to disagree about a game. Im just hoping AA7 will have a good new prosecutor or do something interesting, like using the old ones ones one at a time.

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The more time passes, the more I think the game is brilliant

I even agree with most of anagram's complaints, but none of it matters because the characters, main theme, and music are so good.

from a critical and personal standpoint, I honestly think this is one of the best games at capturing the casual kind of anti-asian racism I've experienced. It doesn't shy away from this and actually reconciles with it in a really effective way with the sholmes/ryunosuke/mikotoba relationship. growing up in the south and always feeling like a weird outsider, I really resonated with this videogame.

all the mysteries have moments that completely obliterate my suspension of disbelief but I don't even care anymore

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I loved GAA2 from start to finish. Easily one of the best in the franchise.

The extreme contrast is definitely a factor, though, since I consider GAA1 to be the worst game on the franchise.

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colliding posted...

I even agree with most of anagram's complaints, but none of it matters because the characters, main theme, and music are so good.

Should've mentioned the music, it is top notch.

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SSBM_Guy posted...

The final case and the final twist is one of the last reasons to play PW vs PL!

correct, the reason to play Layton/PW is case 3

and also perhaps the best OST in the series

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The music was really nice, I agree. Also TGAA2 overall is really enjoyable, though Ana's criticisms are definitely valid.

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What's your ranking of the AA games?

Also G2-4 and G2-5 sucked butts.
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Mac Arrowny posted...

What's your ranking of the AA games?

This isn't an exact ranking, and a few of the numbers could be switched one space higher or lower, but here we go.

AA3
AA1
AA6
GAA2
AA2
AAI2
AA5
GAA
AA4
AAI

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I need to replay both GAA games to get a feel for where I'd rank them. GAA2 might be 4th or 5th to me. GAA1 might only be above AJ and AAI1 to me.

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10/10's: GAA2 > 3 > AAI2
9/10's: 6 > 5 > 1
8/10: 2
7/10's: GAA1 > 4
6/10: AAI1

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MrSmartGuy posted...

10/10's: GAA2 > 3 > AAI2
9/10's: 6 > 5 > 1
8/10: 2
7/10's: GAA1 > 4
6/10: AAI1

I have an unbalanced favoritism towards 5 that puts it at the top, but other than that this is pretty spot on. I'd rearrange the bottom 3 though, 4 > I1 > GAA1

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